Japanese low cost carrier ZIPAIR has begun offering Starlink Wi-Fi onboard one of its aircraft, marking the first of many to come for the airline. The Japan Airlines subsidary is the first in East Asia to offer the high-speed connectivity.
The aircraft equipped with Starlink is JA850J. The aircraft was sidelined for three weeks in February as it made the swap from Panasonic. It flew its first revenue service flight on Thursday as flight ZG45 from Tokyo (NRT) to Seoul (ICN), and continued to operate flights throughout the day, back to Tokyo (NRT) and then to Bangkok (BKK).
The Starlink service will be available fleetwide by spring 2026.
“ZIPAIR is proud to deliver on our commitment to raising the standard of the inflight experience,” said Shingo Nishida, President of ZIPAIR. “By integrating Starlink across our entire fleet by this spring, we are making free, high-speed connectivity a basic expectation of travel for every ZIPAIR passenger.”
As an LCC, ZIPAIR does not offer seatback entertainment onboard, and passengers rely on free Wi-Fi inflight. The carrier’s current Panasonic system is comparably slower than other offerings on other carriers. The switch to Starlink eliminates the speed issues and delivers a strong passenger experience despite its status of a low cost carrier.
The airline operates some long flights, including 13 hour+ flights to Houston and most recently, playing with the idea of service to Orlando and the U.S. East Coast by operating charters. These distant routes makes reliable entertainment imperitive, and the addition of high-speed Wi-Fi will be a welcome change for passengers.
Japan Airlines, despite having a 100% stake in ZIPAIR, still offers Panasonic Wi-Fi and does not have any published plans to move over to Starlink. The carrier does have plans to move over to low-Earth orbit (LEO) internet for its inflight connectivity, beginning with its Boeing 787-9 retrofits in the near future. It has yet to share details of its vendor for the connectivity.
Featured image by ZIPAIR Tokyo.
